In some ways there weren't really any surprises at this year's Queens Ekiden, the corporate women's national championships. Favorite Sekisui Kagaku, the 2021 national champ, moved into the lead by the 3rd of the 42.195 km race's six legs and stayed there the rest of the way, taking the 2023 national title in 2:13:33. The other three teams that have won every national title the last seven years, 2016, 2019 and 2020 winner Japan Post, 2017 and 2018 champ Panasonic, and 2022 winner Shiseido, took the next three spots with only a 9-second spread between them. Most of the people who ran last month's Paris Olympic marathon trials looked tired. Princess Ekiden qualifier winner Iwatani Sangyo made the podium for the first time. Last year's 6th-placer Toyota Jidoshokki plummeted from grace to finish last. All pretty predictable.
But there were some great highlights. Women-only half marathon NR holder and 5th leg CR holder Rino Goshima (Shiseido) was stellar on the 7.0 km 1st leg, looking incredibly strong as she soloed a 21:27 CR 5 seconds under the old record set by former 5000 m NR holder Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post), strong enough to make you want to see her make the jump to the marathon. The longest stage, the 10.6 km 3rd leg, had a brilliant sequence where Hironaka was chasing Olympic marathon trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) who was chasing 2:21 marathoner Rika Kaseda (Daihatsu) who was chasing 2:22 marathoner Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) who was chasing trials runner-up and leader Mao Ichiyama (Shiseido) and the running order almost completely inverted. Running near the back of the field on the 3.6 km 4th leg, the race's shortest, Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) took 8 seconds off the CR with a new mark of 10:49. Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) ran the fastest time on the 10.0 km 5th leg by 9 seconds to put the defending champs back up into 2nd. 2nd through 4th place overall inverted in the last km of the anchor stage when Japan Post's Yuna Wada and Panasonic's Kaori Morita ran down Shiseido's Kain Maeda. It was great fun.
Along the way the race for top 8 saw a lot of turnover too, but in the end there was a gap of over a minute between 8th and 9th, a clear gap in quality. Daihatsu was 5th behind the four champion teams, with the Sachiko Yamashita-coached Daiichi Seimei out kicking powerhouse Tenmaya and newcomers Iwatani Sangyo on the track for 6th, 2:16:27 to 2:16:29 to 2:16:34. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo was the unlucky 9th-placer in 2:17:47 but its anchor Manami Nishiyama had to win a four-way sprint against Edion, Uniqlo and Route Inn Hotels to do it. In its Queens debut Senko ran as high as 7th in the early going but eventually ended up 20th overall. Still, though, it had the satisfaction of starting off its national-level career by beating past heavyweights Wacoal and Toyota Jidoshokki.
As the first major race of championship ekiden season, this year's Queen's Ekiden was a highly entertaining start and one of the most fun to watch in memory. Here's to another month and a half of the big races, the best time of the year. Let's hope they live up to this one.
Queens Ekiden
National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships
Sendai, Miyagi, 26 Nov. 2023
Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (7.0 km) - Rino Goshima (Shiseido) - 21:27 - CR
Second Stage (4.2 km) - Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) - 13:13
Third Stage (10.6 km) - Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 33:04
Fourth Stage (3.6 km) - Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) - 10:45 - CR
Fifth Stage (10.0 km) - Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) - 31:48
Sixth Stage (6.795 km) - Yuna Daito (Tenmaya) - 21:21
Team Results - top 8 auto-qualify for 2024
1. Sekisui Kagaku - 2:13:33
2. Japan Post - 2:14:58
3. Panasonic - 2:15:01
4. Shiseido - 2:15:07
5. Daihatsu - 2:15:57
6. Daiichi Seimei - 2:16:27
7. Tenmaya - 2:16:29
8. Iwatani Sangyo - 2:16:34
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9. Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo - 2:17:47
10. Edion - 2:17:48
11. Uniqlo - 2:17:52
12. Route Inn Hotels - 2:17:53
13. Starts - 2:19:05
14. Otsuka Seiyaku - 2:19:19
15. Universal Entertainment - 2:20:14
16. Kyudenko - 2:20:17
17. Kyocera - 2:20:23
18. Shimamura - 2:20:26
19. Hitachi - 2:20:48
20. Senko - 2:21:10
21. Nitori - 2:22:57
22. Yamada Holdings - 2:23:15
23. Wacoal - 2:23:23
24. Canon - 2:23:48
25. Toyota Jidoshokki - 2:23:54
© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments
Excellent Youtube coverage from the broadcaster TBS with 4 camera options on the one screen. The only thing missing is the live commentary you would get if you watched it on their TV channel and all the action as the athletes enter the stadium as the motorbike cameras don't capture it. Hopefully, they will upload this version in the coming weeks to their Youtube channel as they did last year. Seems like there was action aplenty in the stadium!
It's a great comment you make regarding Rino Goshima and wanting to see her make the jump to the marathon. At 26 years old and a proven performer on the road I'm a bit surprised she hasn't done so already. She completed a 1:08:03 half marathon last year, a great 10k 30:55 run in Spain earlier in the year. She has been a consistently top tier performer in Ekiden. The time line is looking good for the transition too. I'd love to see it. With Hironaka probably going the marathon route post Olympics it would be wonderful to see these 2 athletes competing in this event. Actually, very much looking forward to see how Hironaka does in the 10000m track meet coming up in a couple of weeks.
I thought the pivotal leg for Sekisui was Sayaka Sato's 3rd leg. If she struggled like Mao Ichiyama then it would have been a much closer affair. When they won in 2021 I thought her run at that time was pivotal too. By not running the MGC race was definitely beneficial. The last 3 Queen's Ekiden runs from Mao Ichiyama have not been great: 2021 (Wacoal) 35:57 13th position; 2022 (Shiseido) 35:08 7th position, 2023 (Shiseido) 35:22 20th position. Compared to her 3rd position in 2020 with a time of 34:38 she really has underperformed in recent years. Admittedly, she does have good reasons.
Great to see Honami Maeda have an solid run to come 3rd in the 5th leg but full credit must go to Shiseido's Yuka Takashima for winning that leg and beating Hitomi Niiya. I didn't expect that to happen.
Well done to Iwatani Sangyo finishing 8th after winning the Princess Ekiden.
With Sekisui having Ran Urabe, Tomoka Kimura and Nabeshima Rina sitting on the sidelines watching it just doesn't seem fair. As a spectator, not seeing quality athletes participating in a major Ekiden is disappointing but I guess that is no different to other professional sports where teams with deep pockets can have some great players warming their benches and deny other teams their skills and services.
Next years Queen's Ekiden may be different as I expect to see multiple retirements post Olympics and we also have some ageing athletes that may lose motivation or simply have a drop in performance.
Brett, thanks for your assessment of the race. As a side note I noticed the Sweat Elite Youtube channel doing a multi episode focus on the Ekiden events and the teams involved. It is incredible to see the passion, dedication, training and technology.